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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Dingle, Ireland

Unsurprisingly, at the end of Dingle Peninsula is a town called Dingle. We stopped to walk around and have a bit of lunch.

We parked at the harbor and discovered that we had no change to buy a "pay and display" ticket for the car. We went into the tourist office to get some change. The nice lady said they couldn't give change since they weren't a shop, but if we were trying to pay for our parking we didn't have to worry because the parking enforcers are off on Sundays. We dodged a bullet!

We walked into town, admiring the view of the harbor and the strange anchor-chain fence.

Dingle Harbor

Two fences, or possibly a fence and a magic trick

We found a little restaurant for lunch where I ordered an Irish breakfast, which was delicious and filling. The chief difference between this and an English breakfast is the inclusion of white pudding, which is basically black pudding without the blood. The Irish breakfast includes black pudding too.

Black pudding and white pudding?!?

Fortified, we went up Green Street to see St. Mary's, the local church (which will get its own post tomorrow) and Dick Mack's, a pub which is also a hardware store. Not the safest mixture, if you ask me, but this is Ireland.

Dick Mack's pub, which also has hats?!?

We also saw an interesting restaurant that had nice colors and a split door that you hardly ever see anymore. I think those are cool.

Fenton's Restaurant, looking charming

L found an alleyway with a kitchen in it. She would have made soup if we hadn't already eaten.

L ready to cook

We came back down the hill and went to Murphy's, which is not a pub. They have delicious, award-winning ice cream on sale and since we'd already eaten lunch, it was a perfect time for dessert.

Why so serious?

Leaving Dingle, we drove along the western edge of Ireland, called Slea Head, which is indeed the western edge of Europe! The views out to the ocean are quite dramatic.

Blasket Islands in the distance

Cliffs of Slea Head

More of Blasket Islands

Along the road we discovered a crucifixion scene that stood out dramatically.

Not a typical road-side shrine, but this is Ireland

We stopped at a popular overlook where we spotted a bird. Several other people had stopped. One lady was taking pictures and I accidentally walked in front of her. She said she had a shot of my butt and would delete it, so no worries. At least, I hope she deleted it!